Category: Breaking News

President Joe Biden delivers his first national prime-time address from the White House on the anniversary of the nationwide Covid-19 shutdown. one-year anniversary of the coronavirus-induced shutdowns by commemorating Americans’ sacrifices and looking ahead toward a post-pandemic world. “I’m going to talk about what comes next,” Biden said Wednesday in a preview of the speech, which will be his first prime-time address as president. “I’m going to launch the next phase of the Covid response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people.” “There is light at the end of this dark tunnel,” he said. Biden, on his 50th day as president, will also use the spotlight to kick off a victory lap following the final passage in Congress of his $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill. Biden signed the bill into law Thursday afternoon. He is set to embark on a nationwide tour next week to tout the first major legislative accomplishment of his administration. The president will depart Tuesday for Delaware County in Pennsylvania, an electoral swing state that was key to Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump. Biden’s prime-time speech is scheduled for just after 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night, and will be broadcast from the East Room of the White House. The address is expected to last less than 20 minutes, an administration official said. The president will acknowledge the devastating death toll of the pandemic — at least 529,267 dead in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University data — as well as the life-altering challenges caused by sudden lockdowns around the country, the official said. Biden is also expected to emphasize his administration’s efforts to rapidly ramp up production, acquisition and distribution of Covid vaccines, an unprecedented operational endeavor, according to the official. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden will “lay out some more specifics” of how the administration will fight the virus moving forward. Biden on Wednesday, in remarks following a meeting with executives from Johnson & Johnson and Merck, hinted that he will deliver a message of hope and promise through his prime-time address. But the Democratic president, in sharp contrast with his predecessor, suggested that he will continue to temper that optimism with notes of caution. “We cannot let our guard down now, or assume that victory is inevitable,” Biden said Wednesday. “Together, we’re going to get through this pandemic and usher in a healthier, more hopeful future.” “So there is real reason for hope, folks,” he said.

The United States House of Representatives passed on Wednesday a $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill proposed by the Democrats. A total of 220 US representatives voted in favor of the bill without a Republican vote, while 211 lawmakers voted against the legislation, including Democratic representative Jared Golden of Maine. The bill includes $1,400 direct stimulus payments to US citizens, an extension of $300 weekly jobless benefits for unemployed Americans through September 6, tax credit expansions, around $20 billion in vaccine development and distribution funds, as well as $350 billion in state and local aid. White House press secretary Jen Psaki unveiled that US President Joe Biden would sign the bill into law on Friday.

The $1,400 stimulus checks will be accompanied by a host of other relief, according to Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst for the Tax Foundation. Here are the other benefits you can expect. The legislation provides a rebate that amounts to $1,400 for a single taxpayer, or $2,800 for a married couple that files jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent. Individuals earning up to $75,000 would get the full amount as would married couples with incomes up to $150,000. The size of the check would shrink for those making slightly more with a hard cut-off at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for married couples. Some Republicans want to cut the size of the rebate as well as the pool of Americans eligible for it, but Biden has insisted on $1,400 checks, saying “that’s what the American people were promised.” The new round of checks will cost the government an estimated $422 billion. Under current law, most taxpayers can reduce their federal income tax bill by up to $2,000 per child. The package moving through the House would increase the tax break to $3,000 for every child age 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under the age of 6. The legislation also calls for the payments to be delivered monthly instead of in one lump sum. If the secretary of the Treasury determines that isn’t feasible, then the payments are to be made as frequently as possible. Also, families would get the full credit regardless of how little they make in a year, even just a few hundred dollars, leading to criticism that the changes would serve as a disincentive to work. Add in the $1,400 per individual checks and other items in the proposal, and the legislation would reduce the number of children living in poverty by more than half, according to an analysis from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. The legislation would send $350 billion to state and local governments and tribal governments. While Republicans in Congress have largely objected to this initiative, Biden’s push has some GOP support among governors and mayors. Many communities have taken hits to their tax base as millions of people have lost their jobs and as people stay home and avoid restaurants and stores to prevent getting COVID-19. Many areas have also seen expenses rise as they work to treat the sick and ramp up vaccinations. But the impact varies from state to state and from town to town. Critics say the funding is not appropriately targeted and is far more than necessary with billions of dollars allocated last spring to states and communities still unspent. The bill calls for $130 billion in additional help to schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The money would be used to reduce class sizes and modify classrooms to enhance social distancing, install ventilation systems and purchase personal protective equipment. The money could also be used to increase the hiring of nurses, counselors and to provide summer school. Spending for colleges and universities would be boosted by $40 billion, with the money used to defray an institution’s pandemic-related expenses and to provide emergency aid to students to cover expenses such as food and housing and computer equipment. The bill provides another round of relief for airlines and eligible contractors, $15 billion, so long as they refrain from furloughing workers or cutting pay through September. It’s the third round of support for airlines. A new program for restaurants and bars hurt by the pandemic would receive $25 billion. The grants provide up to $10 million per entity with a limit of $5 million per physical location. The grants can be used to cover payroll, rent, utilities and other operational expenses. The bill also provides another $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a tiny fraction of what was allocated in previous legislation. The loans are designed to help borrowers meet their payroll and operating costs and can potentially be forgiven. Expanded unemployment benefits from the federal government would be extended, with an increase from $300 a week to $400 a week. That’s on top of what beneficiaries are getting through their state unemployment insurance program. The bill provides money for key elements of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response, while also trying to advance longstanding Democratic priorities like increasing coverage under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. On “Obamacare,” it dangles a fiscal carrot in front of a dozen states, mainly in the South, that have not yet taken up the law’s Medicaid expansion to cover more low-income adults. Whether such a sweetener would be enough to start wearing down longstanding Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion is uncertain. The bill provides $46 billion to expand federal, state and local testing for COVID-19 and to enhance contract tracing capabilities with new investments to expand laboratory capacity and set up mobile testing units. It also contains about $14 billion to speed up the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccines across the country. The bill would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by June 2025 and then adjust it to increase at the same rate as median hourly wages. However, that provision is not expected to survive in the final bill. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that it cannot be included in the COVID-19 economic relief package under the process Democrats chose to undertake to get a bill passed with a simple majority. Biden had predicted such a result. Still, the ruling was a stinging setback for most Democratic lawmakers who had said the higher minimum wage would increase the pay for millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had projected the new federal minimum wage would lift some 900,000 people out of poverty once it was fully in place. But Republicans said the mandatory wage hikes would make it harder for small businesses to survive and they pointed to the CBO’s projection that about 1.4 million jobs would be lost as employers looked for ways to offset their higher personnel costs.

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David Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management whose comments have been known to move markets, said it’s very difficult to be bearish on stocks right now and thinks the sell-off in Treasuries that has driven rates higher is likely over. The major market risk has been removed, Tepper said, adding that rates should be more stable in the short term. “Basically I think rates have temporarily made the most of the move and should be more stable in the next few months, which makes it safer to be in stocks for now,” Bond yields have jumped sharply over the past few weeks amid higher inflation expectations, which put pressure on risk assets. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed from 1.09% at the end of January to above 1.60% on Monday. The swift advance in yields hit tech stocks particularly hard as these companies have relied on easy borrowing for superior growth. Tepper believes Japan, which had been a net seller of Treasurys for years, could start buying the U.S. government bonds again following the surge in yields. The potential buying could help stabilize the bond market, Tepper said. “That takes a major risk off the table, and it’s very difficult to be bearish,” Another bullish catalyst for stocks in the near term is the coronavirus fiscal stimulus package that was just approved by the Senate, Tepper said. The Democrat-controlled House is projected to pass the $1.9 trillion economic relief and stimulus bill later this week. President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law before unemployment aid programs expire on March 14. The hedge fund manager also said “bellwether” stocks like Amazon are starting to look attractive after the pullback. Shares of the e-commerce giant have fallen 9.7% over the past month, while Apple has dropped more than 11% during the same period. A year ago before stocks really began to drop because of the pandemic, Tepper warned that the virus could be a game changer for markets.